As the collection and use of digital information about consumers has grown, so have concerns about consumer privacy and data security. Service providers collect information associated with consumers and consumer interactions with their services for marketing purposes and/or to be sold to other entities for consumer marketing purposes. However, as service providers, such as Internet service operators (for instance, Facebook®) and media content providers (such as a cable network operator) have increased the amount and sophistication of their data collection efforts, consumers have become more aware of how their information is being used. In addition, they have become increasingly concerned that their information may be used and collected in ways that they are not aware of or that they do not expect. In general, companies have relied on the integration of data collected based on primary keys relating to consumers such as name, address, phone and email address. This personally identifiable information (PII) may be used to match data records from disparate sources. However, consumers and privacy advocates have voiced concern about such practices and government agencies have instituted regulations limiting the collection and/or use of PII.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system that allows for the anonymous collection of information relating to consumer activity that is useful for marketing and other related purposed, while also protecting the identity and privacy of consumers.